Jim Jordan Requests More DOJ Info About Mar-a-Lago Raid

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday requesting more information concerning the FBI’s raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

Jordan’s letter came on the day an indictment was unsealed regarding Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.

“According to reports, the Department will indict President Donald Trump, despite declining to indict former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her mishandling of classified information and failing to indict President Biden for his mishandling of classified information,” Jordan wrote Garland.

“The indictment creates, at the minimum, a serious appearance of a double standard and a miscarriage of justice — an impression that is only strengthened by allegations that a Biden Justice Department lawyer ‘inappropriately sought to pressure’ a Trump-affiliated lawyer with the prospect of a judgeship.

“Additional information recently obtained by the Committee about the Department’s execution of a search warrant on President Trump’s residence only reinforces our grave concerns that your reported actions are nothing more than a politically motivated prosecution.”

Jordan told Garland that on Wednesday, the committee conducted a transcribed interview with Steven D’Antuono, who served as the former assistant director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) and was “one of the most senior FBI officials in charge of effectuating the unprecedented [Mar-a-Lago] raid” in August.

“During his testimony, Mr. D’Antuono expressed strong concerns with the Department’s pursuit of the raid and noted several unusual features in the Department’s handling of the case,” Jordan wrote.

“Mr. D’Antuono, who had over two decades of FBI experience, noted his frustration that the FBI was going to be ‘left holding the bag again.'”

D’Antuono told the committee of several “abnormalities” about the DOJ’s actions in pursuing its investigation of Trump. Those irregularities included:

• The Washington Field Office (WFO), not the Miami Field Office, conducted the search. D’Antuono stated that he had “absolutely no idea” why Miami Field Office did not take the lead on this matter.
• DOJ did not assign a U.S. Attorney’s Office to the matter, something D’Antuono said was unusual, especially in an investigative matter of this magnitude.
• The FBI did not first seek consent to conduct the search.
• The FBI refused to wait for Trump’s attorney to be present before executing the search, a move with which D’Antuono disagreed.

Jordan told Garland he was giving DOJ a week to provide all documents and communications referring or relating to: meetings between FBI and DOJ officials before the raid; the execution of the search warrant; and between or among Washington Field Office agents and employees and the U.S. Secret Service about a potential search of Mar-a-Lago.